The Star Citizen Thread v5

[metatheurgist]

For example the affluence labels seem to classify rich people as being willing to risk money, in reality the opposite is largely true (and the reason they are rich).

Yep, take a look at the guy making his dreams come true on $140M of some other sucker's people's money.

 

[Stigbob]

Yep, take a look at the guy making his dreams come true on $140M of some other sucker's people's money.

Until he ships an MVP his pre-sales are a debt, so I don't think he counts.

Maybe the affluent thing on the chart refers purely to the idle rich, trust fund kids and other bored parasitic types. They often do nothing but waste money. It could also explain some of the utter outraged horror at opposing views, sneering attitude and the inability to communicate without throwing a wobbler.

 

[Zetta]

Weekly Rallying Call Has Gone Out

 

[lysan]

Weekly Rallying Call Has Gone Out

"Over the last four years, we've watched the game keep getting better and better and idea's get more and more fleshed out."

LMAO

 

[tulextreme]

It's funny every single time i stumble on any SC related stuff, the same feeling grabs me like the day i credited this project some err... credit!
Almost 6yrs later all i feel is regret on believing that someday this will become the game i hoped it would be... Well at least they sent me this piece of plastic lol

And better yet i've found ED that rightfully filled the gap and bad taste left by SC... now all i can get from it is amusing seeing how doomed this project truly is!

 

[Dementropy]

Where does the chart come from ?, as others have mentioned there's some really weird labeling going on. For example the affluence labels seem to classify rich people as being willing to risk money, in reality the opposite is largely true (and the reason they are rich).

The "affluent" part refers to the people who can drop a few thousand on one or multiple speculative projects without tightening their belts. People who want something fun, and can hedge their bets by putting in for a number of crowdfunded games in the hope that at least one of them comes to fruition, or the ones who have large fleets, in the case of Star Citizen. These are the "angel investors" to a degree. I wouldn't say people with more money than sense, but certainly the ones with the largest financial stake in the project, who stand to lose the most if CIG cannot deliver. What separated the blue section from the green section, from going over the chart multiple times, is that the group in the blue can theoretically move on if nothing comes from this. The green group has more of an emotional investment tied to their backer dollars, because this may be the ONE project they've put a lot of money into (whether it's because of "dreams," or they enjoy space games, MMOs, or simply just like Chris Roberts) and the ones who may feel emotionally betrayed, should CIG fail to deliver.

 

[Calebe]

This is the most frightening part of Star Citizen as it is now when I read this part from Derick Smart:
.

Then croberts goes on the record and says they will need on-going funding to finish the game. And if that doesn't happen, at least they will have enough to finish SQ42. A game which isn't even close to the Star Citizen (aka PU) that backers put all this money in.

.
The part I think all the whales need to pay attention to and seriously think about is that without the PU their entire fleet of ships is even more non existent then it is today. Why more at least today there is well not a glimmer of hope for a finished game anytime in the foreseeable future but at least they can see some of the finished ships in the tech demo's ahh I mean the alpha and use them. SQ42 releases sales are lackluster and no PU released. End results even the pretty jpegs are useless because they were never refactored into even a prettier (still useless) jpeg.
.
Calebe

 

[Stigbob]

The "affluent" part refers to the people who can drop a few thousand on one or multiple speculative projects without tightening their belts. People who want something fun, and can hedge their bets by putting in for a number of crowdfunded games in the hope that at least one of them comes to fruition, or the ones who have large fleets, in the case of Star Citizen. These are the "angel investors" to a degree. I wouldn't say people with more money than sense, but certainly the ones with the largest financial stake in the project, who stand to lose the most if CIG cannot deliver. What separated the blue section from the green section, from going over the chart multiple times, is that the group in the blue can theoretically move on if nothing comes from this. The green group has more of an emotional investment tied to their backer dollars, because this may be the ONE project they've put a lot of money into (whether it's because of "dreams," or they enjoy space games, MMOs, or simply just like Chris Roberts) and the ones who may feel emotionally betrayed, should CIG fail to deliver.

It's not a "speculative project" and they're not "investors" it's just an unfinished badly delayed but heavily hyped game that seems to be stuck firmly in development hell. Some people having jumped onto the pay2win wagon in a really big way doesn't elevate this above simple pre-sales of a niche game.

The chart is trying to justify big spenders outlay to make them feel better about their spending and feel better about nobody else joining in, by explaining other peoples reluctance as lacking vision.

It's hogwash.

I haven't bought in because the ship prices have always seemed insane and the hype is unbelievable in comparison to their achievements, it can't possibly be on the level. Add the fact that the only dates they've ever kept are ship sales and to say my spider sense is tingling is a vast understatement. If it's not a scam they need to massively alter their approach to communication as everything they say screams of dishonesty, desperation or total incompetence. Any of which don't really entice me to give them money.

 

[Tippis]

Word of the day: spendthrift.

 

[McGlashan]

"Over the last four years, we've watched the game keep getting better and better and idea's get more and more fleshed out."

Also,

My very first memory was of low quality characters, bad animations, and just in general, lackluster visuals with very little in terms of functional gameplay

Now it has slightly higher quality characters.

I've given them my share of financial support, I've given them my share of patience and understanding, and I've gotten in return friendships and stories that well outweigh my investment

None of which were project goals.

 

[dsmart]

This is the most frightening part of Star Citizen as it is now when I read this part from Derick Smart:
.

.
The part I think all the whales need to pay attention to and seriously think about is that without the PU their entire fleet of ships is even more non existent then it is today. Why more at least today there is well not a glimmer of hope for a finished game anytime in the foreseeable future but at least they can see some of the finished ships in the tech demo's ahh I mean the alpha and use them. SQ42 releases sales are lackluster and no PU released. End results even the pretty jpegs are useless because they were never refactored into even a prettier (still useless) jpeg.
.
Calebe

Yup, which is precisely why I wrote this.

 

[Dementropy]

It's not a "speculative project" and they're not "investors" it's just an unfinished badly delayed but heavily hyped game that seems to be stuck firmly in development hell. Some people having jumped onto the pay2win wagon in a really big way doesn't elevate this above simple pre-sales of a niche game.

The chart is trying to justify big spenders outlay to make them feel better about their spending and feel better about nobody else joining in, by explaining other peoples reluctance as lacking vision.

It's hogwash.

I haven't bought in because the ship prices have always seemed insane and the hype is unbelievable in comparison to their achievements, it can't possibly be on the level. Add the fact that the only dates they've ever kept are ship sales and to say my spider sense is tingling is a vast understatement. If it's not a scam they need to massively alter their approach to communication as everything they say screams of dishonesty, desperation or total incompetence. Any of which don't really entice me to give them money.

The chart is not a justification. If you look at it as a timeline, we're still on the left side, with people who are still in the adoption cycle. To the right of the gap is the population waiting for a commercial release. CIG still has to capture that big audience, and is relying on an already tapped population to see this thing through, which is far from good news.

 

[Jezzah]

Also,



Now it has slightly higher quality characters.



None of which were project goals.

Aye none of which were project goals and this guy telling himself that this somehow will outweigh his investment has a desperate sniff of weakly rationalising to me.

 

[Stigbob]

The chart is not a justification. If you look at it as a timeline, we're still on the left side, with people who are still in the adoption cycle. To the right of the gap is the population waiting for a commercial release. CIG still has to capture that big audience, and is relying on an already tapped population to see this thing through, which is far from good news.

There is no timeline, it's all a bit vague.

Also I suspect CIG may have already tapped out their entire audience. Space Games are a niche ED is at about 2 million (IIRC) which is absolutely huge for the genre. But for SC you have to subtract players who dislike pay2win (lots of them), console gamers (loads of them), people who've already refunded (who knows), people who bought in for specific now dropped promises (BDSSE sim enthusiasts), poor suckers who shelled out on upgraded systems for the original release date.

Basically SC can never equal those numbers unless they go for console's and try to win back some of the gamers they've already shafted as there's a finite pool of possible customers. I think they're knackered.

 

[dsmart]

There is no timeline, it's all a bit vague.

Also I suspect CIG may have already tapped out their entire audience. Space Games are a niche ED is at about 2 million (IIRC) which is absolutely huge for the genre. But for SC you have to subtract players who dislike pay2win (lots of them), console gamers (loads of them), people who've already refunded (who knows), people who bought in for specific now dropped promises (BDSSE sim enthusiasts), poor suckers who shelled out on upgraded systems for the original release date.

Basically SC can never equal those numbers unless they go for console's and try to win back some of the gamers they've already shafted as there's a finite pool of possible customers. I think they're knackered.

They don't stand a ghost in hell's chance of doing any of that. The project is tainted, toxic, and squarely in the realms of DNF, NMS etc. The only people they're going to appeal to, are already engaged - and are the only ones left. That's why on Reddit, RSI forums, Spectrum, media news comments, it's always the same Usual Suspects.

And considering the nature of space combat games, they're already tapped out on their potential install base. SC doesn't have anything that ED doesn't already have - and does better. When you look at COD:IW which did well, but not well enough to match its predecessors, that's the sort of metric people should be looking at as well.

Luckily for them, unless those games and us devs, all their money has come from pre-orders (as well as loans and investors). So they already have most - if not all - of the money they're ever going to get from the game.

It's never going to recover. All we're doing now is speculating on when it will collapse, and what form said collapse will take. I still maintain that it will be a sudden collapse; not the slow burn that most are thinking, as that one requires consistent funding to keep 350+ people in 4 worldwide studios in jobs for the foreseeable future.

 

[Zetta]

I'm not convinced they've maximised their audience. There's a large amount of people who repeatedly fall for the old "Look at this new shiny, isn't it wonderful?!" and that's one thing that's guaranteed with Star Citizen, it will be shiny... like a Hollywood summer blockbuster.

 

[dsmart]

...meanwhile, over there.

A lot of people in this sub like to think that this community isn't toxic but it is. Especially this sub. Whenever someone posts something critical of CIG its downvoted to hell and the author is usually derided with claims of being a troll or DS account. It's ridiculous.
I already know this will get downvoted, but I don't give a . It needs to be said. This community (reddit, RSI forums, and Facebook) is slowly becoming more and more toxic. All because some people can't separate their emotions from the game enough to have an actual conversation.
But what do I know? I'm just a goon DS troll account who wants to see CIG fail, despite having backed them for $500+ dollars.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm not convinced they've maximised their audience. There's a large amount of people who repeatedly fall for the old "Look at this new shiny, isn't it wonderful?!" and that's one thing that's guaranteed with Star Citizen, it will be shiny... like a Hollywood summer blockbuster.

Do you seriously think that - over six years - there are still space combat gamers who haven't heard of the game, and who will end up being a potential audience?

 

[Zetta]

Do you seriously think that - over six years - there are still space combat gamers who haven't heard of the game, and who will end up being a potential audience?

Unfortunately I do, I think once reviews go out there will be quite a few people who'll be wooed by the graphics and buy in. Plus there will be all the MMO hoppers looking for the latest MMO to play etc.

 

[Stigbob]

Unfortunately I do, I think once reviews go out there will be quite a few people who'll be wooed by the graphics and buy in. Plus there will be all the MMO hoppers looking for the latest MMO to play etc.

The MMO types won't buy into SQ42, sales of which are intended/needed to finance the MMO side now apparently.

 

[Zetta]

The MMO types won't buy into SQ42, sales of which are intended/needed to finance the MMO side now apparently.

That's true, if MMOs are their main thing then SQ42 will be of far, far less interest.